Process of treating vegetable waste.



UNITED STATEs' PATENT PIETER WIOHERS WIERDSMA, OF SOHRANS, AND J OHANNESKUIPERS, OF LEEUWARDEN, NETHERLANDS, ASSIGNORS TO THE KUMA COMPANY,

LIMITED, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

PROCESS OF TREATING VEGETABLE WASTE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 640,725, dated January2, 1900.

Application filed December 28, 1897. Serial No. 664,076. (No specimens.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, PIETER WICHERS WIERDsMA,of Schrans, nearLeeuwarden, and

J OHANNES KUIPERS, of Leeuwarden, Netherlands, subjects of the Queen ofthe Netherlands, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inProcesses of Treating Vegetable lVaste, of which the following is aspecification.

to This invention relates to the manufacture of a new or improvedsubstance or product suitable for use as a substitute for vulcanite,

hard woods, or other hard materials or for other uses or purposes forwhich the same may be applicable, and has for its object to utilizecertain parts of the potato or similar tubers,

particularly the refuse or part of the refuse produced in themanufacture of various prod-.

ucts from potatoes or similar tubers.

In the manufacture of potato-flour from pctatoes after the flour hasbeen separated from the mass produced from the potatoes the refuse orpart remaining is treated in the following manner, so as to producetherefrom 2 5 the new or improved substance or product according to thepresent invention, which embodies certain improvements on ormodifications of the invention described in the United States Patent No.581,319: This refuse or part remaining after the extraction of the flourcontains water, peel, fiber or cellular material, and potato-flourresidue, and in the form usually obtained-win, in a pulpy mass-isestimated to contain, first, water; second, 3 5 peel; third, matterssoluble in cold water, chiefly dextrine; fourth, starch and starchymaterials, and, fifth, cellular or fibrous material.

It is the object of the present invention to 0 separate the threefirst-named materials from the two last-named materials and to rejectthe water, peel, and soluble matter and toretain and treat the starchand fibrous material and utilize the latter as follows:

The aforesaid refuse is mixed with water (advantageously a copioussupply of cold water) and stirred well or otherwise agitated to obtain aliquid pulpy mass somewhat of the consistency of cream, the supply ofadded water being sufficient to allowthe whole mass to be sieved orstrained or submitted to any suitable separating process or action toseparate or remove the particles or coaser parts that formed the peel.This sifting or assorting process or separating action should be donevery carefully, so that a minimum (if any) of the peel or coaser partsremain in the sieved material, the water added as above serving orassisting in serving to carry the starch or starchy material along withthe fibrous or cellular material, and the liquid mass is now thoroughlywashed to remove all soluble matter. This done, the mass may now (orlater) be bleached, if desired, in any suitable manner, and the same maynow (or later) be dyed in any suitable manner and color desired. Themass is now dried and disintegrated. This dried mass (advantageously inthe form of a fine powder) is now treated according to the presentinvention in such wise as to provide the mass with a strong gum ormucilage incorporated in or with the mass, and this may be efiected ineither of the following manners:

(a) By adding water (advantageously hot 75 water) to the mass insuitable proportionssay three parts of the powder to four parts ofwaterand intimately mixing the mass in a suitable vessel and raising thetemperature of the mass to 80 or 85 centigrade, or thereabout, wherebythe starch or starchy matter in the mass is converted into a starchpaste, which will serve to cause the cohesion of the whole mass whenmolded under pressure. In this treatment it is an advantage to use a 85small percentage of hydrochloric acid to assist in converting the starchinto dextrine. By the addition of a suitable proportion-say ten percent.-of an astringent-such as a solution of alum, tannin, &c.--theresistance of the resulting product to water or moisture is increased.

(b) Instead of the treatment above described under (a) the dried mass,advantageously in the form of a powder, is intimately mixed, by kneadingor otherwise, with a suitable gum (such as rosin) or mucilage (such asanimal glue or gelatin say twenty to forty 7 forms or shapes.

per cent.more or 1esswhich gum or mucilage may either of itself bewaterproof or which may be mixed as an aqueous solution and thenrendered insoluble by precipitation bya suitable astringent-such asalum, tannin, tire-and by this means the resulting product is renderedwaterproof or still more impervious to the action of water or moisturethan the product by the first-named process. In this (b) process thetemperature of the solution or mass is not raised, as in the firstnamed(or a) process. The material is now thoroughly dried and reduced to apowder and (either with or without sifting) is then molded under greatpressure into the desired By this invention is produced a homogeneousmaterial of great closeness of texture,

which can be easily cut, turned,and manipulated. It is alsoa goodelectrical insulator. The shrinkage after molding is so slight that forpractical purposes it may be disregarded. It reproduces and accuratelyretains the finest lines upon the face of the mold.

If desired, some or all of the peel may be retained, and the masscontaining such peel is treated in the manner and for the purposeshereinbefore described, only in such case the resulting product will nothave all the qualities of the product where the peel is excluded.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, anddesire tosecure by LettersPatent of the United States, is-

1. The herein'described process of treating vegetable waste or refuse ofthe character specified, which consists in separating and rejecting thewater, dirt and matters soluble in cold water, drying and disintegratingthe mass, mixing therewith an adhesive waterproofing substance to renderthe mass water- .proof, drying the now waterproofed mass,

reducing it to a powder and molding said powder underpressure,'substantially as described. Y Y

2. The herein described process of treating vegetable waste or refuseproduced in the manufacture of various products from potatoes or similartubers, which consists in separating and rejecting the water, dirt, andmatters soluble in cold water, drying and disintegrating the mass,mixing therewith resin or other gum or mu cilage to render the masswaterproof, drying the now waterproofed mass, reducing it to a powderand molding said powder underpressure,substantially as described.

3. The herein-described process of treating vegetable waste or refuse ofthe character specified, which consists in separating and re jecting thewater, dirt and matters soluble in cold water, drying and reducing themass to a powder, incorporating therewith a gummy substance and thensubjecting the mass to the action of a precipitating agent,disintegrating the mass thus treated, reducing it to a powder, and thenpressing said powder into a solid form, substantially as and for thepurposes described.

PIETER WICHERS WIERDSMA. V JOHANNES KUIPERS. Witnesses:

ALBERT MENARDA, J12, AUGUST SIEGFRIED DOCER.

